The city did not end quite as suddenly as it had begun for the group. While their discovery of the metropolis was made possible by exiting a mountainous cave, it turned out that the Curveside portion of the sprawl was very gradual in its dispersement into the rest of the twilight-bathed landscape. The spires rose lower and lower and most of the elevated platforms vanished—giving way to pure space between fewer and fewer skyscrapers. The group followed an elevated road that slowly lowered, passing through thinning highways as the path coasted towards what the group could only assume was "sea-level." The closer they approached the ground, the more they realized that they had exited the central hub of the Spindlers' nest. They approached depths that—far back Edgeside—would have been chock full of spider webs and arachnid colonies. As they progressed, they found the buildings growing more and more sparse. Large towers were replaced with stout structures with greater widths and broader foundations. There were more courtyards here—or perhaps they were once parks. In any case, all traces of grass or trees or vegetation had been vulcanized to ash and rock long ago.
The structures grew exceedingly smaller. As such, they were more fragile... and the group mostly encountered the hollow husks of steel structures that now lay in tatters along the outskirts of the urban sprawl. Even the bridge itself—which they had been traveling since their last dialogue with Merula—finally crumbled to pieces between two enormous warehouses. With help from Kepler and Wildcard, Flynn had to glide the hovercraft down a five-story descent. At last, they were gliding the wagon over a roughly even earth. It was a good thing they weren't relying on wheels, for much of the ground was littered with rocks, pebbles, debris—and beneath all of that a malleable layer of uneven sediment. It soon became clear to Rainbow and her friends that all of the miniscule effects of the Sundering—battered bits of anything and everything—had been blasted towards the Curveside edge of the sprawl. This made trotting over the bare landscape very hazardous, and the group had to veer the craft slowly around innumerable clusters of junk and debris.
As they all progressed further—angling slightly towards Omega—the dirty landscape grew remarkably flat. In fact, the terrain was so evenly-leveled that it struck Rarity as rather curious. After excusing herself, Rainbow Dash decided to ascend briskly—flying high over the wagon's position. Wildcard and Ariel joined her, and soon the three were surveying the topography ahead of them. They were surprised to see a vast array of evenly-arranged geometric lines, stretching towards the visible horizon. The group was confused at first—even all of Rainbow's ghostly friends—until Rainbow brought news of their observation back down to Kepler. Kepler surmised that the landscape was once purely agricultural; the original denizens of Urohringr must have built a vast network of perfectly-tilled farmland just outside the city limits. However, because of the cataclysmic nature of the Sundering, all of the soil had been completely vaporized. The only thing that stood out was the impression of paths and roads through the fossilized cropfields—roads that must have been used for countless thousands of generations before the Circles were broken. As the journey wore on, the group noticed the faint traces of what must have been farmhouses. It was haunting to think that an entire valley of fertile green terraces had long been reduced to a charred black sterile mess, lingering eternally beneath unfeeling stars.
This was what greeted the group—with every waking blink—for the next three days. The flatness was so vast that it took them nearly half-a-week to scale. Logan, Flynn, and Kepler took it in stride. Ariel nearly lost her mind on multiple occasions, and so Rainbow sent her and Wildcard off on countless "reconaissance" runs... just so they could stretch their wings while everyone waited for the wagon to navigate the lifeless plain. This proved frutiful at the start of the third day, for Ariel and Wildcard confirmed the existence of mountains towards Omega—including a deep ravine that must have once housed a river. After consulting Kepler, Rainbow decided that they would continue their trip through the canyon—in hopes that the path might more naturally lead them towards the Grand Ocean. All the while, Rainbow constantly removed Axan's dragon stone, studying its surface to judge the angle and nature of their trip.
It was flickering constantly—of course. That meant that they were more or less aimed in the general direction of the Bloodwings. Up until the ravine, Rainbow had the luxury of guiding the group slightly off-course from the supposed location of the Dark Vigil's lair. Now—for the sake of arriving at their destination—they were at the mercy of the ravine's path... whether it was a winding one or not. Rainbow promised herself to make sure they didn't go too deep towards the red flicker of Axan's stone. Rarity and Fluttershy easily volunteered to assist her with that. The rest was simply a waiting game—for there was no telling how far the ravine would lead... or for how long they would be shadowed by the looming mountains flanking each side of the wide trench.
As often as she could, Rainbow Dash took the time to observe Seraphimus. She soon discovered that she didn't have much to observe. The former Talon Commander was quiet most of the time. Hauntingly so. She had completely switched from being surly and hostile all the time to being... noticeably docile and melancholic. For one thing, it was good to have her acting so compliant. But—at the same time—Rainbow struggled with this gnawing fear. If she didn't look after Seraphimus... then Rainbow felt that somehow she would be the first one out of the group that she stood to lose. So she kept her eyes on the griffin and her ears tuned into Applejack. Between her senses and her most loyal friend... she monitored the Rohbreddenite from a distance.
It made for a tense, somber journey into that pale... pale twilight.
God, yes...descriptions like this of the cities and civilizations on the Dark Side that once 'were' is the kind of stuff I've really been wanting to hear more of since the trip on this side began. Good, good stuff.
Makes sense that there would be farmland outside the city, assuming they didn't do something exotic like vertical farming, but I have to wonder if it affected AJ more than the others. Being from a farm, seeing what happened and wondering if it could happen to her home if they don't succeed, good way to keep her up at night. And so they continue onward, onward, onward, a lonely boat on a sea of ash and memories.
That's a lot of farmland.(captain obvious to the rescue)
Back from where I’ve been.
Another glorious chapter of scenery pr0n simulator: Darkside edition.
Petrified farmland that takes half a week to cross and nearly drives people mad with the uniformity of its design? North Dakota confirmed for darkside of the plane.
Mmmm a good old description chapter! Love it.
Oh boy farms. I'm honestly surprised that no plants have grown into place, adapting to the darkside's level of light.
I'm tail deep in a splatfest at the moment.
Uneventful travel, guess the Bloodwings are smart enough to keep away from Spider city. They can pick off the lone straggler, but I bet even the hordes of bat pons would swiftly fall if they had to mount a prolonged offensive on the lair of the spider queen.
Obligatory:
-Through the path long forgotten, into the darkness long begotten. Ofolrodi.
Loving the description here
Well, looks like its onwards and upwards. Wonder how the Dhimers will be like.
Mmm, I love me some really good descriptions.
A farmland that had its soil vaporized by the Sundering, took half a week to cross and drove Ariel crazy a few times? That must've been a huge farmland, wew. I would go crazy too if I were to be seeing the same bland, uniformed scenery.
ye olde banana farms
Honestly, between the description chapter and the description themselves, that city feels more and more like a dead Emeraldine. Large city with a ruler not originally from this plane in the mountains that gave Dash some guidance right at the very beginning of the Dark/Light Side surrounded by lots and lots of farmland?
And Bloodwings are supposed to have some new tech too... Darkstine 2.0? I'm sure Dash wouldn't mind another crazed technophile sacrificing foals. Its been a while since we had one of those.
Been awhile since we've had an Austraeoh style no-dialogue chapter.
Really nice description of the whole place.
Can't wait to see the Dihmers and Bloodwings.
Well, hello there, purple mountains.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
This brings me back to very first book, with all of the terrain descriptions.
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Kinda feels like home, doesn’t it? Maybe not quite as relaxing as places like Emeraldine, but familiar nonetheless.
Mmmmm. That's some some good scenery porn. Blasted wastelands have never been described so beautifully.
Five bits says this ravine dumps them right in front of a bunch of Bloodwings.
It's been so long since we got the scenery shift and description unf~
Scenery porn is a go!
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It's not only the description. The gloomy mood is back as well.
Rough calculation estimates the farmland crossed, using Earth values, could have supported the city population of between 10 and 100 million. Assuming mixed agriculture on single layer before hypercropping and perfect weather control. Also assuming they aint moving much over walking speed on average for 10-12 hours a day, taken the mountains they came through only modified the available land by a half or so, far less than order of magnitude estimate.
TL:DR. Size of farmland looks about right to support approx size of city.
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And here I was worried that traveling through perpetual darkness would mean there'd be no more scenery porn.
That must be one fun trip, hiking through post-apocalyptic farmland on suicide watch.
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Ever since my days in the VA Tech choir I can't read this poem without singing it thanks to us performing "Frostiana" back in the late 80's.
Not us, (tho there is probably an old vhs of our performance around) but for reference...
Scenery poooooorn
If Twilight gets any paler I'll claim she's seen a ghost.
Also why are we journeying into Twilight? Did she stop and make Rainbow phase through her?
Bad Twilight!
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I first read that poem in a Bolo book by David Weber.
The Bolo was beset on all sides by armored battalions and nuclear missiles, and taking and dishing out enough firepower to render a small country bare of life.
It wouldn't give up, and even in its destruction, it didn't really lose.
Wouldn't it be three nights technically? It's so strange to talk of days with no sun in the sky.
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Days pass for an insect under a rock.
The same applies to metaphorical insects on the underside of a large, improbably shaped rock in space.
Besides, night is defined by presence of day, so both must pass, or not at all.
And so, the journey continues.
Keep on Truckin.
From dust you came, and to dust you shall return.
I hope we see more flashbacks or visions of life before the Sundering, maybe in another book...
From cities to fields to mountains.
And the scenery porn commences
I just thought of something... If the plane is as "thin" as it is, is there any space for lava, and therefore, volcanic eruptions? I know "chaos" but just thinking of the words "vulcanized to ash" got me thinking of the dragon lands that was a big volcanic crater with some lava in it. If IC keeps a little to the cannon, where would this lava come from in the ring world?
If only the Herald had a JD Power’s award winning most dependable midsize and compact suv from Chevy then we’d be to the midnight armory by now...
Oh, reminiscent of the earliest Austraeoh chapters. How lovely.
Applejack, the Element of LOYALTY
I wonder if the hover plank can cross the ocean...
A literature move back to form.
I'd say this is a scenic tour, but when there isn't anything to look at, does it really count?